High Stakes WHIS
by Diluculo
Summary: ToE: :KeelexMeredy fluff: :no spoilers: :oneshot: Meredy and Keele play a friendly game of WHIS...


**A/N: ** This is a little gift for Aelph on the Tales of Series Forums. Please bear in mind that this is my first Eternia fanfic, and I don't know the characters as well as I do the ones in Abyss. I haven't even beaten the game yet. This is the best I could do, and I hope you enjoy it!

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If there was any one thing in the world that Keele hated, it was walking.

Of course, there were numerous other bothers and various little pet peeves that he could do without, but walking, _physical exertion_, was one thing he would rather never do again so long as he lived. But of course, there was work to be done, and with Farah being the only driving force that kept him moving, he had no chance of escape. Not only that, but there was Meredy skipping beside him, a veritable fountain of energy, bouncing and grinning and chattering in her broken Melnics-turned-Inferian speech to make it all worse by causing him to look utterly exhausted by comparison.

Reid glanced back from the forefront of their small group when he heard Keele stumble again. Meredy was at the scholar's side instantly, helping him back on balance. "Keele okay?" she asked innocently.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he grunted, pushing her away. Meredy looked confused for a second, then went back to prancing in her lively gait again.

"We can rest if you want, Keele. It's fine with me," Farah offered. Keele shook his head stubbornly.

"No, we can't stop now!" He snorted. "Once we make a pact with the Greater Craymel in—" Keele stopped abruptly as his shoe caught on another stone protruding from the bed of rock below. He yelped and was down in a flurry of robe. Reid and Meredy halted and turned to him, but Keele was doing his best to get back to his feet as though he hoped they wouldn't notice his unglamorous trip.

"Hey, Keele, you okay?" Reid stood over him, though he did not seem overly concerned.

"Arg, I'm fine..." Keele made an effort to stand, but he slipped on his voluminous robes again.

"Keele is tired. We rest now, Farah?" Meredy suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea," Farah replied. "Reid, you know the drill."

"Yeah." The redhead drew his blade and wandered off to check the area for monsters.

Keele continued to groan, rubbing his wrist busily. Farah leaned over to examine it. "Hey, what happened here?"

Keele winced as she grabbed his arm. "I-I tried to catch myself when I fell, and I--"

"Ah, here you go." Farah game him a broad smile and carefully applied a healing spell. The skin reformed itself neatly, and Farah found a roll of gauze in their bag of supplies. She wiped off the blood that had seeped up and bandaged it tightly. With a satisfied grin, she released him.

"Keele better now?" Meredy persisted, still hovering over the boy.

"I think I'm—" Another attempt to stand failed, and Keele mumbled something under his breath that Meredy should not have heard.

Farah brushed Keele's robes away, and he gave a strangled shout of protest. "H-Hey! What are you doing?!"

"Just as I thought," said Farah triumphantly. "You sprained your ankle. Honestly, Keele..." She proceeded to bind another poultice to his left ankle. Meredy giggled as Keele gave an exasperated sigh.

"I told you, I'm just fine..." he muttered, but he dared not move until Farah had completely treated the minor scrapes that covered his leg as well as set it to the best of her ability.

She looked over it critically. "I'm afraid I don't have anything that I could use to brace it, so that will have to do for now."

"Meredy kiss to make better?" Keele stared at the girl, astonished. How could she even mention such a childish thing?!

Farah laughed. "Sure, Meredy! It would make Keele happy! Look at him; he's blushing at the thought of it!"

"I-I am not!" Keele stuttered. "That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard!"

Keele's indignant statement sent Farah into fits of laughter she could hardly contain. "Really, Keele! When you were little—"

"I-I'm not a kid any more, Farah!" Keele's face flushed even more, and he folded his arms.

Meredy giggled to herself. "Keele like being kissed? Meredy kiss Keele, then!" She leaned closer to him. For a moment, Keele thought that no, she couldn't be serious. It was too silly. Quickly deciding against it, he lashed out, and Meredy looked startled with Keele flat on his back under her. She frowned, then ordered him back up. "Keele! What is wrong? Keele do not want Meredy to kiss?"

"NO." He sat back up as fast as he could, jabbing a finger to her small chest. "Keele wants—I mean, _I_ want—_you_ to leave _me_ alone!"

Reid returned at the most opportune time. At the sight of Meredy on Keele's lap, giggling as the boy lectured her, he couldn't suppress a chuckle. Farah noticed him first, and Keele coughed when he noticed the other spectator to his rant. Meredy hadn't been listening anyway, and he dropped off with a sigh. Meredy bounded up to Reid, hugging him tightly.

"Reid back!" she cheered, and at the sight of the multicolored light that rippled from him, she added, "Lots of Fibrill!"

"Ow, ow, ow! Hey, quit that, Meredy!" Reid pushed her away, and the light evaporated.

"So, you've brought dinner?" asked Farah, eying the bundle Reid was carrying over his shoulder.

"Oh, yeah." He tossed the bag to the floor of the cave. "There were a few monsters back there, so I figured we could save our rations and eat what we had handy, right?"

Farah pulled the sack open and looked through its contents. Inside it were several large, slimy beetlelike monsters, some of which had legs that were still twitching. Farah shoved the bag away, saying, "I'm not eating that!"

Reid blinked slowly, shrugged, and plucked the bag up again. "Your loss." He found a relatively flat area further back in the cave and cleared it of loose debris to start a fire.

"I'm hungry, though," Keele told her.

"We'll just eat the rest of what we were carrying, all right?" Farah returned to her traveling bag, but to her dismay, only enough ingredients for a single serving of stew remained.

Meredy wandered over to where Farah was busily rooting through every pocket of the bag. "Not much left?"

"No... I'm sorry, Meredy. It looks like we'll have to split what little we have."

"Meredy give hers to Keele! That make him feel better faster!" the small Celestian girl insisted.

Keele blushed ever so slightly, but Farah failed to notice as she addressed Meredy again. "You don't want to be hungry, Meredy! Look, I'll make sure everyone has enough. With Reid eating... whatever it is he's eating... there'll be enough for everyone."

"Hweel!"

Farah grinned. "Now go keep Keele company while I fix up the food, okay?"

"You bet!" Meredy skipped back to where Keele sat. The scholar's arms were crossed glumly, and his cross expression clearly read that he was trying not to feel foolish sitting there in the middle of the way while still avoiding the task of standing and risk falling again. Meredy plopped down beside him energetically, holding out a tiny hand to him. "See, Keele? Play WHIS?"

"What?" Keele raised an eyebrow mockingly, but he followed along for her benefit.

"See! Very popular Celestian card game! Is very, very fun!" She began to lay out the cards between them, but Keele looked down at her in disgust.

"A card game? I'm not wasting my time with that!"

Meredy beamed, not in the slightest offended. "Keele can't walk, anyway. Might as well have fun!"

"I-I can walk!" Keele said quickly. He shifted, getting his legs under his body and tried to rise, but his bad ankle twisted the wrong way yet again. He dropped back down, helpless, and gave an overly exaggerated sigh.

"Play like this. Red cards on red cards, blue cards on blue, and green on green. These cards with two colors can only go on one other color, though. Rock on green, ice on red, and lightning on blue. Those change the color for the next card."

Keele snorted. "It looks too easy. I'd win in a second. It's no contest."

"These cards special," Meredy continued. "Black cards and white cards go on any card. They make any color you want!"

He watched her uneasily. A quick glance at Farah, then to Reid confirmed that neither had noticed his genuine half-interest in the game. It _did_ seem kind of fun, but never enough for him to actually_ play _it.

Meredy went on to explain the scoring system the best she could in her fragmented speech, but Keele had grown used to it enough to understand. Before he realized it, she had talked him into playing a round. Then another. And another. Keele grew frustrated; it was a game based mostly on luck, he figured, since no child as young as Meredy could possibly be skilled enough to outsmart him at a petty little card game.

After what must have been nigh on half a dozen rounds, Farah appeared, bearing their meager dinner. Reid joined them, mumbling about how apparently the monsters were lacking in protein and that he needed just something else for his stomach to quit roaring like an Inferian sea at high tide on a stormy night.

Keele ate quickly, and as soon as he was finished, he and Meredy resumed their game.

He narrowed his eyes over the top of his cards. "Best three out of five."

"You bet!"

The three rounds flew by, and Meredy proved triumphant every time. Keele growled, tossing his six remaining cards to the ground. The other three giggled at his mounting anger.

"Really, Keele! It's just a card game!" Farah told him jokingly.

"Exactly!" he returned. "That's why I should be able to win easily! This is ridiculous!"

"Funny, Keele!" Meredy chirped. "Want to play again?"

"No! You must be cheating to win like that!"

They laughed even harder, and Farah could hardly get out her next idea in a full sentence between chuckles. "H-Hey, Keele! What about that kiss she mentioned?"

"W-What about it?!" He scowled, feeling his face redden.

"Will that make up for all the times she beat you?"

"A-Are you crazy?!" Keele could hardly sputter an answer in his incredulity.

"Meredy has an idea!" she said loudly enough to be heard over Reid and Farah. "Farah give Meredy great idea!"

"What is it?" asked Farah, managing to quiet her laughter.

Meredy's eyes were wide as she explained her great plan to them. "Meredy teach Reid and Farah to play WHIS, too. You like it! Then, we can all play together! We can give prizes to the winner!"

"What, you mean like gambling?" Reid coughed, amused by the idea.

"Reid!" Farah shot him a reproving glare.

"That sound great!" cheered Meredy.

"This is an outrage! I'm never playing that pointless game again as long as I live!" Keele shouted.

"You're just worried you might lose again!" taunted Farah. "You're a sore loser, Keele!"

"I am not!"

"Then prove it!" Farah collected the deck of WHIS cards and slid it to him jauntily. "Why don't you join us? We're sure to be far less experienced than you."

Keele huffed noisily. He glared from Reid to Farah to the still-giggling Meredy, then nodded reluctantly. "Fine, I'll play your stupid card game!"

"Now, we'll place our bets..." Farah began.

"You don't even know how to play, though!" Keele pointed out.

Farah smirked evilly. "We could pick it up as we go, but if you insist... It'll be one-on-one. Keele versus Meredy."

Cries of "You can't be serious!" and "You bet!" erupted from the respective players at the same time.

Reid chortled again. "This'll be interesting."

"What are the bets?" Farah asked again.

"Meredy kiss!" came one reply.

Keele hesitated, then said, "Undine from the Craymel Cage."

"That's no prize!" Farah complained.

"Meredy want Undine! Meredy get enemies all wet like Keele does!"

Reid snorted in laughter, then leaned back against the nearest rock to watch in relative comfort. "I suppose it's fair enough."

Keele groaned uneasily, and Meredy smiled at him. Farah cut the deck and dealt the cards silently.

He barely glanced at his hand until all of the cards had been distributed. Farah laid the deck down between the two and flipped the top card over next to it. The game had begun.

He fanned out the cars before him nervously. It wasn't exactly the best layout, but the tides of WHIS could turn with no warning at all. Some rounds would end in seconds, but others stretched on for several minutes. His worst ally and his best friend both bore the same name, and that name was luck.

Meredy went first, as it was Celestian custom, she had said, for the youngest to begin the game. Fire. No tricks yet. Keele returned the play with an ice card, and Meredy didn't miss a beat tossing down a prism card.

"Wind," she declared, her normally peppy voice serious. Keele could hear Farah stifling a laugh; her "it's just a card game" thought was obviously running through her head again. Keele focused on the game. He placed the reverse card he'd been dealt, but its normal effect was voided by the significant lack of other players. The exchange was relentless even when they had to pause to draw cards. Wind, rock, fire, double fire, attack, attack, draw four cards, ice, prism, keep it water, darkness, wind again, reverse, attack, more cards, back to water. Keele kept a wary eye on Meredy's hand. It diminished, then grew, but his own was doing no better. Then by some freak chance, things miraculously turned in his favor.

Meredy played prism and declared it fire element. Keele revealed a fire attack card, and Meredy gave a light huff as she took two more cards. He played an ice card next, then she laid down a water one. One more water card, then all he had left was a light card, which could be played on anything. He had the game practically won all ready.

Meredy made her next move. She drew a card swiftly and playing it in the same turn. Keele moaned in annoyance. She smirked, whispered something in Melnics, and Keele took the two Seyfert-forsaken cards that had been forced upon him by her attack card. He had been so close!

Meredy went again, but could do nothing besides draw another card. Keele placed his next cautiously, and Meredy continued, showing no signs of imminent threat. A reverse, that wasn't bad. Fire instead, maybe? He played the card. Fire was okay with her. She went along with it easily. He had gotten down to one card, finally. She had two, and it was her turn. She played a light card, and to Keele's glee, it was water element. Water! He threw down his prism card with a smug grin across his features.

"Ha! I win!"

"Keele so good at WHIS!" Meredy praised. She leaned forward, and Keele jerked back in surprise, forgetting that winning meant he had to take the prize.

"I-I—" he stammered. She gave him only a quick kiss on the cheek, but it was enough to bring an unhealthy pink to his face. She giggled and jumped forward to hug him.

"Meredy! H-Hey, you're on my ankle—!" Keele said, but it was clear to all that he was lying.

"Keele so nice! You feel better now!"

"Arg—" he grunted, briefly grasping her middle in a feeble attempt to remove her. Meredy held tight, and Keele gave up, falling backwards onto the stone floor.

"Keele? Keele, are you all right?" Farah rushed to his side, and only when Meredy slackened her grip on him to sit back up did she see that he was laughing and grinning just as much as the young Celestian was.

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